Tennis coaching great Lindsey Linker won’t return to East Chapel Hill
Lindsey Linker, one of the most successful high school tennis coaches in the state, will not be returning to East Chapel Hill High for the 2015-16 year.
“There are so many reasons, but at the front is my family,” Linker said. “My mother lives in Charlotte. She is 93. I just want to be closer to her and to have more time with her.”
Linker is a member of the N.C. High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame and has led boys and girls teams to 18 state titles.
Her Wildcats produced 11 individual state singles champions and 14 state dual team title while winning 600 matches.
Before going to East Chapel Hill, she coached for 10 seasons at Chapel Hill High. Her boys and girls teams built a 294-39 record, won two NCHSAA dual-team titles and had four individual state champions.
She was named as one of the top 100 coaches in NCHSAA history during its centennial celebration.
“I know I am going to miss my teams,” she said. “They have been a great joy to me. But right now, I have other things that I want to do.”
Top 10 matchup: The NCHSAA 4A girls soccer championship between Panther Creek and Charlotte Providence on Saturday will match a pair of top 10 teams. Panther Creek is No. 5 in the Top Drawer Soccer rankings while Providence is No. 9.
The title game is scheduled for 11:05 a.m., at the Dail Soccer Complex at N.C. State.
Crusader wins honor: Nick Forbes of Cardinal Gibbons won the NCHSAA male performance of the week honor for his play in the Crusaders’ 13-12 boys lacrosse victory over Waxhaw Marvin Ridge in the 1A/2A/3A championship game.
Forbes, a senior, scored the winning goal in overtime and was selected as the Most Valuable Player of the final as he had a hand in 11 of Gibbons’ 13 goals. He scored four goals and had seven assists.
Frazier in Prefontaine: Ravenscroft’s Ryen Frazier is among the entries in Friday’s mile run in the Prefontaine Classic, at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore. The field includes some of the best girls high school milers in the country.
Heads Up football: All Wake County high school head varsity football coaches will attend a USA Heads Up Football clinic on June 10 at Cary High. Coaches who took the course last summer will receive a refresher course while new coaches will stay the entire day.
Wake County Schools requires its high school head varsity coaches to take the training, which includes instruction in proper tackling technique and other player safety issues.
Athletics group: Wake County Schools athletic directors and coaches are forming an association designed to promote interscholastic athletics and to help mentor coaches.
One of the goals will be encouraging career development to help coaches become nationally certified.
Realignment: High school athletics officials from Wake County, Durham County and Johnston County are expected to begin meetings this summer to discuss the next NCHSAA 4A alignment.
The NCHSAA is using a new model for the 2017-18 alignment that will reorganize area 4A conferences.
This story was originally published May 27, 2015 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Tennis coaching great Lindsey Linker won’t return to East Chapel Hill."